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Monday, June 25, 2007
Just The Facts, Ma’am
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
There are all kinds of interesting statistics in the new Fact Book on Higher Education, released this morning by the Southern Regional Education Board.
The annual report for Georgia contains all manner of information, including how women are outpacing men in college attendance (74,900 more females enrolled from 1995 to 2005 vs. 37,000 more males) and that fewer than half (48 percent) of full-time freshmen who enrolled at the state’s four-year public colleges and universities in 1999 graduated in six years.
What really piqued my interest was a chart that estimated what the state’s high school senior class might look like in 2018.
According to the report, in the next decade, the percentage of Hispanics graduating from Georgia’s public high schools will explode — growing from a mere 3 percent in 2004 to 26 percent.
During that same time, the percentages of both black and white students graduating in Georgia will decline. Whites will still make up the single largest racial or ethnic group at 39 percent (a precipitous drop from 60 percent), while blacks will barely hold onto second place with 27 percent (a slip from 33 percent).
The bottom line: Georgia’s K-12 public education system will be more diverse than ever with more of a balance among races and ethnicities. The question: Does it matter?
